Fighting Against Becoming Complacent

Jesus calls the church to remember the things they received from Him, specifically the things they had learned and had been taught about Him. It would be valuable to remember where they were spiritually when He found them and the relationship that was started at that time.

You see, the Christian life moves through stages. Listen to this and decide what stage you might be in. The first stage is excitement. When someone first comes to Christ, this immense joy flows out of that person indicating that there's something that is certainly different in their life.

However, many believers progress to the silent stage when they're enthusiasm and love for Christ has diminished. Christ was calling the church to look back and remember what it was like in that first stage of excitement and joy. Jesus was not pleased with their complacency. Remembering the things they first learned in Christ would stir their hearts to remember and return to and maintain the joy and fulfillment they once had in Him.

Now I ask you, are you as excited about your relationship with Jesus today as you were on the day when you first accepted Him? I hope so. If not, I wonder what has caused you to drift away from that excitement. Beware of becoming stagnant. Stagnant individuals make a stagnant church.

A man talks about traveling to Zimbabwe with his brothers to raft the Zambezi River, starting at the base of the Victoria Falls. The falls are the largest in the world, more than a mile wide and three hundred feet high, and the water from the falls rushes down the gorge below, creating the world's largest rapids. In the United States, the highest-class rapid you are allowed to raft is a Class 5. The Zambezi's whitewater rapids can top 7 and 8...

The man and his brothers sat on the edge of an eight-person raft below those towering falls, their guide told them, WHEN the raft flips..." There was no "IF the raft flips" or "On the off chance we get flipped." The guide said, "WHEN the raft flips stay in the rough water. You will be tempted to swim toward the stagnant water at the edge of the banks. Don't do it. Because it is in the stagnant water that the crocs wait for you. They are large and hungry. So, WHEN the raft flips, stay in the rough water."

That's a good lesson for the church. Stagnancy will kill the church, so we must resist stagnancy. Christ, our Guide, needs us to stay in the rough waters, where it's just a little bit uncertain and unsafe, pouring our lives into people.

1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You see, Jesus wanted the believers at Sardis to do more than just remember; he wanted them to repent. Without repentance, you can’t experience the true joy and fulfillment that can come only through an active, personal, growing relationship with Christ.

Again, repentance involves a 180° change in direction. Failing to repent and turn back to God means that Jesus was going to come like a thief in the night; the believers in Sardis would have no idea when he would come. We don't either. This was a warning to the church; they were to pursue Christ wholeheartedly.